


A Beach Ball's Personal Heaven and Hell

by AxisMage



Series: The Omegaverse Trip [4]
Category: DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Kon-El | Conner Kent, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bruce needs advice, Dick gives advice, Family Dynamics, Fatherhood, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Dick Grayson, Omega Verse, Team as Family, The road to fatherhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 09:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14952353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AxisMage/pseuds/AxisMage
Summary: He knows it before he even goes down to the clinic. He knows since before the doctor tells him that he has to make big changes in his life. It all goes downhill from there, but it´s not like he wants to complain about it. After all, he plans on enjoying every second of it





	A Beach Ball's Personal Heaven and Hell

**Author's Note:**

> So finally here´s a little insight into Dick´s experience as the pregnant omega in question from the moment he realizes he´s pregnant to a point halfway into the pregnancy (?), and also a little heart to heart with Dick and Bruce because... Bruce needs a talk lol. 
> 
> None of this would have been possible without the wonderful [LorelainMichaelis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LorelainMichaelis/pseuds/LorelainMichaelis) for betaing and saving this from being a disaster. You´re the best, darling <3 
> 
> Hope you enjoy :D

The change, contrary to popular belief, does happen from one day to another, at least in his case. One night, he is swinging from one building to another in Bludhaven, getting to the Zeta-tube behind the little diner at the corner and on his way to the Cave to help the Team. The next, he is also swinging from building to building and heading for the Zeta-tube, but he´s not alone anymore. Logically, biologically, Dick knows a fetus doesn’t pop into existence all of a sudden. He knows it´s a slow process, he knows it isn’t a one-day-only kind of thing, and yet that is what he feels. He knows, but he doesn’t know how. He knows before some foods start smelling unappealing, before some alphas go from having a nondescript scent to mildly bothersome. He knows before he realizes he gets fatigued easier nowadays. He knows before he even drags his ass down to the doctor´s office.

Dr. North has, next to Conner, the best and most calming scent he´s ever picked up on. Dick supposes that it helps him a lot with patients, and along with his strong and safe alpha scent, he´s also got the softest voice and fatherly attitude that make Dick think he couldn’t have gone to a better place. No wonder Dr. Thompkins had recommended him.

Dick watches as the elderly man paces in front of him, reading some papers. He waits, then waits some more. And then he gets impatient. “I can´t be the first male omega that got pregnant and came to you,” he says.

Dr. North stops pacing and gives him wide eyes. “Excuse me?”

Dick shrugs. “I can´t be the first, and I won´t be the last. Your silence is making me uneasy, emphasis on the _un_. Is it too risky? You don´t think I could carry the baby to term? Male omegas have a bad history?”

Dr. North blinks once, twice, then he gives a small smile. “I was checking some other results the nurse brought in. Your results weren’t done just yet, but they’ll be here really soon. However,” and here he raises his eyebrows. “You already know what the results are.”

“Do you think I´m mistaken?”

“No, I don’t. I think you are right, Richard, and hopefully the test will give us an estimate of how far along you are.” The doctor smiles again. “Have you felt the difference in your body for long?”

“I´m not sure. It was just there one day, and then other alphas´ scents became kind of bothersome, and then I couldn’t eat my cereal because I couldn’t stand the smell, and then I came here.”

Dr. North looks ready to say more, but there´s a knock on the door. Dick watches the doctor go to the door, watches him take some papers and hears him talking to the nurse. The door closes, the doctor reads, then he gives a big and genuine smile. “Needless to say, Richard, you are indeed pregnant.”

Hearing someone say the word out loud doesn’t make him feel as heavy as he thought it would. He had thought it would be heavier, that he´d feel the floor go out from underneath his feet and that he would have trouble breathing. He had thought he would feel scared, but he isn´t scared, nor angry, nor breathless. Maybe because he´s said the word out loud in his own head several times already? Maybe because it feels like he´s dealt with bigger, deadlier, more troublesome things before? Maybe because he´s actually quite practical and not as difficult a person as some people make him out to be?

“Richard?”

Dick blinks, stares at the doctor. “How far along am I?”

North looks down at the results. “Three weeks, give or take a couple of days.”

Three weeks. Yeah, that sounds about right. Three weeks, twenty-one days. He wonders how much the baby growing inside of him has developed already. Three weeks. Care for the baby probably had to begin at this point, right? He might need to do some research about that, and about a lot of things after today.

“Richard?” North asks again.

Dick blinks one more.  “Yeah?”

“How are you feeling?”

It takes a few seconds for the question to register among all the other things he is already asking himself. When it does, he can´t help but smile. He knows Dr. North isn’t inquiring only after his physical health. He knows the question is heavy, the answer even more so. He knows the doctor is taking his silence as a panicked one, probably thinking he is about to ask for the nearest and safest abortion clinic.

But he isn’t.

“I´m better than I thought I would be,” he says after a couple of minutes have gone by.

“Are you sure? Are you dizzy?” North pauses. “Scared?”

Dick isn´t really sure. He knows the numbness that has settled over him is probably masking many other emotions, but is fright one of them?

“Richard?” North says a third time.

Dick hears himself laugh. It starts out as a soft and weak chuckle, but it eventually gets stronger, louder, and at one point his body is shaking, his cheeks are wet. It has been years since he´s been able to laugh to the point of tears.

“Sorry, I´m not going crazy or anything,” he says, still laughing.

North frowns.

He wipes at his eyes, flashes the doctor a bright grin. He is not fond of sharing his private life with anyone but Conner, and even with him he´s had limits at one point or another. This, however, he feels the need to share.

“My mate´s name is Conner. He´s a Superman clone, but he´s half-human and half-Kryptonian. He thinks it makes him defective. I think it gives him the best of both worlds,” he begins. “We´ve been a couple since my early teens. When we first started spending my heats together we were as reckless as one would expect. We figured out at some point that not getting pregnant after so many years meant something was wrong with one of us. He insisted on getting us tested. We kept all the process and results to ourselves. We found no real or understandable cause as to why his fertility was almost nonexistent. The fact that he´s a clone, a hybrid, one of the party´s DNA or who knows what else, it´s all still a mystery.”

Dick pauses, laughs softly at North´s softening expression. He can tell the elderly man is getting where he´s going with the story.

“No matter who I am and what I do, I´m keeping this baby,” he concludes. “It´s a once in a lifetime opportunity, doc, and I´m going through with it. I´ll do whatever it takes to carry this baby to term. It wasn’t in my plans, nor in Conner´s, but hey, sometimes a surprise is the best choice because it works out for the best, right?”

The doctor´s face is a whole story unto itself. “It is the first time I see such a young man so sure of himself and firm in his beliefs.”

“It´s going to be my kid, how can I not fight for them with everything I´ve got?”

North actually looks… _touched_. “Congratulations, Richard,” he says, and there is genuine feeling behind those two words. 

 

* * *

 

It´s not that he doesn’t want to tell Conner, because why would he want to keep it a secret? It´s good news for them, more than just good. It´s not that he´s wary of Conner´s reaction either. It´s not that he doesn’t know how or why to do it. It´s not that he´s planning to make a big surprise out of it. If Dick hasn’t told his mate it´s because there hasn’t been time.

Two weeks go by since he goes to the clinic. There is barely enough time for them to talk while in costume, downright impossible to meet off-duty… because there is no time to be off-duty. Between the uprising that happens down in Atlantis, the League calling in for the seniors of the team´s help off planet and upon returning having to split the members between Poseidonis and taking Clayface down… there really, truly hasn’t been time to sit down with Conner and tell him he´s pregnant.

… Until Tim finds out and his back almost splits in half, of course.

Tim leaves the room after he breaks the news down to Conner, but only after snapping a couple of pictures and only because Conner threatened to throw him out the window.

After Tim leaves, Dick stares at Conner from where he sits on the hospital bed. Apart than to threaten his younger brother, Conner hasn’t moved nor spoken. His expression is unreadable, he is frozen in place, and for the first time in years Dick doesn’t know what his mate is feeling. Up until then, he hadn’t doubted Conner´s reaction, but now?

“Conner?” he asks, and gets off the bed, holds out a hand. “Look, I know this wasn’t what either of us planned but…”

Conner moves in a blur of speed, faster than Dick has seen him move before, and then those arms are around him, holding him tightly, the strong and musky smell overpowers his senses, and Conner is laughing that extremely rare and joyous laugh Dick has heard maybe four times since the two of them met.

“So your smell _had_ changed, and this is why,” Conner says against his ear.

Dick snorts, then tilts his head back to raise an eyebrow at him. “So you knew?”

“No. No. Of course not,” Conner says immediately. “I had no idea, but your scent changed about two weeks ago. I didn´t know that omegas´ scent changed when pregnant, I´ve never… I´ve never been around a pregnant omega before, male or female. It´s not like I know much about life overall outside of the city but, I mean… you know.”.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks.

“Because I didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing, if you were doing it on purpose or not. I don´t… I don´t know a lot of stuff, Dick, and I didn´t want to…” Conner looks away, begins to look angry, and Dick knows that´s his defense mechanism when confused and/or overwhelmed

Dick doesn’t want to see him like that.

“Hey,” he says, hooks his fingers under Conner´s chin and lifts until their eyes are meeting. “Hey, it´s okay. There was no way you could´ve known. I didn’t know my scent had changed either. It´s okay, Conner. Let´s focus on the good and important stuff right now.”

Conner looks a thousand questions back at him. After a few minutes a smile begins spreading across his face, makes his eyes sparkle in a way Dick hasn’t seen before.

“You´re pregnant,” Conner says. “And that doesn’t sound as weird as people make it out to be.”

Dick laughs. “Right? It sounds weirder in your head, but out loud it isn’t that bad.”

The smile goes away, and Conner´s eyes search his face. “Pregnant. You´re pregnant. With… with my… child?” Dick gets ready to crack a joke about that, but he continues speaking. “How is that even possible? I thought… after the tests… and it´s not like we´ve tried to keep it from happening but… Dick, what if the baby doesn´t make it? What if because of my defective genes our baby won´t…?”

Dick groans, tugs at the short black hair. “Conner, you´re not defective, and our baby will grow just fine. It´s our baby, our child, they´re already made of sterner stuff than both of us.”

Conner eyes him uncertainly.

Dick leans in and presses their lips together. “Are you happy?” he asks in the softest of whispers.

There is no response at first. All Dick can hear is their combined heartbeats, Conner´s fast breathing. All he can feel is Conner´s arms around him, feel that strong and comforting smell envelop him in a blanket of peace and quiet he can´t help but indulge in.

“Happy?” Conner replies after a few more minutes have gone by. “Happy? Dick, I´m sorry, but I´m so ecstatic and glad and whelmed and… I need to do this until all my energy runs out.”

Dick is about to ask what that means, but Conner´s laugh fills the air again, and he finds himself being lifted from the ground and actually spun around in the air.

Thank God Tim isn’t there. Otherwise, pictures of that moment would have been uploaded to everyone´s phones and tablets and gadgets within seconds.

 

* * *

 

 

He starts talking down to his belly the first day he stays in the Cave instead of going out with the team. It is better to bench himself before anyone – especially Conner – tells him to do it. He doesn’t want to create a spectacle, he doesn’t want anyone to end up humiliated, but most important: he doesn’t want to put his baby at risk.

So he does what a good father would do. He hangs up the tights and doesn’t throw a tantrum while doing it.

“This is going to be hard,” he says out loud into the empty Cave while he pushes his chair back and stares at his not-so-flat-anymore stomach. “I´m not going to lie to you. This is going to be hard, and even boring. As far as my memory goes, I´ve always been… _doing stuff_. Whether it was running around helping put up the tents at the circus, practicing our act with your grandparents, then running around Bruce´s mansion, being Robin, Nightwing… I´ve always been on the move. Catching the flu has always been difficult because it means I have to stay home and rest for a few days.”

He leans back in his chair and then tilts his head back, stares at the darkness above his head. “But I think I can put it all on hold a few months, for you, for Conner, and for myself. I don’t want to put you at risk. You´re kind of a miracle baby, you know? I will take care of you, I´ll do what I need to make you grow big and healthy. You´ve got Conner´s genes, that already makes you a fighter, too, so we´re both going to fight, you hear me? We´ll fight, and we´ll make it. Together.”

The screens ping, and Tim´s voice comes from the speakers. Dick places a hand on his stomach, then pushes a button and Tim appears on screen.

“At least we´ll keep each other company,” he tells his belly before focusing on what his brother is saying.

It´s a good thing he isn’t expecting any of this to be easy, because it actually turns out to be harder than what he expects.

The mornings are now spent sitting next to the toilet, with his head pounding and the world swimming around him until the usual wave of nausea leaves him and he drags himself to the sink to brush his teeth. At first, Conner tries to help and to be by his side. At first, Conner sits down next to him and waits patiently, then presses a cool wet towel to his forehead. Eventually, Dick tells him that while the help is much appreciated, he is not a child and can do it himself. Conner frowns and protests, but he mostly frowns. However, he humors Dick, and now when Dick gets up and rushes to the bathroom, Conner leaves the wet towel in the sink and heads into the tiny kitchen to make some tea. The first couple of times Conner tries to use kitchen appliances he sets the teapot and the matches on fire. Luckily, a call to Clark saves their lives and he now knows how to make some mean tea.

Food is trickier, and Dick can´t thank Conner enough in his head for putting up with everything the pregnancy brings with itself. On the worst days, Dick can´t even smell his favorite cereal from across the room, less of all eat it. On the best days – and those usually are when Clark or Alfred come to visit – Dick wolfs down tremendous amounts of foods that to everyone else but him seem like a terrible combination. Alfred says they´re cravings. Conner asks what that means. Alfred doesn’t tell him, but when one night, Dick goes out for a walk and comes back with a chocolate cupcake covered in ranch dressing – at first he thought it was just a lot of icing – and shredded cheddar on top, he understands. That isn’t the only craving Dick has, either. On their very rare mornings off from monitor duty at the Cave or if Conner and the team aren’t stopping the world from ending, they walk to town and Dick buys all the weird things he wants. Somewhere between the eight and the twelfth week of the pregnancy, the cupboards end up full of groceries on one side, and weird, mismatched snacks and jars on the other.

The scents also turn out to be a bit problematic. It takes a while for Conner to notice because Dick is good at being guarded, but by the end of the first trimester Conner notices the way Dick walks away when there are too many members of the team gathered in one place or the slight wrinkle of his nose when another alpha steps too close. Conner brings it up, but Dick assures him it is all okay, it is a bit bothersome but not unbearable. Even so, the next day Conner presents him with a box of scent patches made specifically for pregnant omegas to block out most of the unwanted scents.

“You didn’t get this in any pharmacy in the city,” Dick says while taking the box.

Conner shrugs. “Zeta-tubes and jumping great distances at once is useful sometimes,” he says.

Dick barks out a laugh and kisses him thank-you. He starts wearing the patches after that, and the nausea the scents had brought with them and which he hadn’t told Conner about does get a lot better after that, the patches even end up helping his issues with food.

The thing Conner complains less about – not that Dick ever hears him complain about anything, but he assumes this is the one that confuses and worries and bothers Conner the less – is the sex. Dick is almost always on suppressants, stops taking them every couple of months so he and Conner can enjoy his heat properly far away from everything and everyone. However, it doesn’t mean they don´t have sex I nbetween. Because they do, because as Dick discovered several years ago, sex with his mate is still amazingly mind-blowing whether he is in heat or not. He stops taking supplements after he discovers he´s pregnant, and a second trip down to Dr. North´s clinic makes him discover the pregnancy suppresses heats by itself and there is no need for pills. Thing is, his heat is suppressed, but his sexual drive is not. Truth be told, Dick enjoys being able to have sex without the constant reminder of taking his pills and without the impending knowledge that his heat could come any minute. However, he admits that at one point the fact he is considerably horny all the time gets to be annoying. He knows that heats only last a week or so, but now that he´s pregnant? It´s kind of lesser and constant version of his heat.

And then there´s his life as Nightwing and an active man overall. The doctor tells him that omegas, male and female, can exercise until the last trimester, that there is no need to put a complete stop to his life, but that he has to restrict his physical activities to what a normal person would do. That means boring stuff in his book, and his training regime and fighting as a hero is out of limits without anyone needing to say it out loud. Dr. North gives him a list of what type of gymnastics he can do, but those must be stopped before the sixth month of pregnancy. Dick decides to take what he can get as long as he can, so he exercises at home. He already knows what he´s going to do when he has to stop with gymnastics. Jogging and moderate weightlifting are allowed until the last trimester, and while he hasn’t told anyone about it, he already knows what route he´ll take on the mornings.

Everything is difficult. It´s all very restricting and those first three months, despite how well-adapted he seems, Dick feels like he´s in his own personal hell.

It will get easier, he tells himself one day as he pats his too-big-already belly. How big he is at only three months pregnant is another thing he needs to look into.

It will get easier. It won´t always be his personal hell. He´s going to adapt and enjoy the experience, and he is going to have fun while his baby is still in the womb. It´s a once in a lifetime experience. It´s his and Conner´s child, most likely the only child the two of them will ever have.

“I won´t let you down,” he promises, then pulls his hand away and dips a pickle in a Nutella jar.

 

* * *

 

 

He learns he´s going to have twins on the fourteenth week of the pregnancy, two weeks after Clark talked to him about Bruce and him having a child of their own. Ever since, he´s been more worried than before about his big belly. Clark assured him everything was all right, and the big man couldn’t lie to save his life, but Dick doesn’t feel at ease until there are wobbly images on the screen in front of him at the clinic and Dr. North tells him that there are two visible heads instead of one.

Dick props himself unto his elbows and stares at the little monochrome screen with a flabbergasted expression. His eyes roam over the image, try to make sense out of it. It takes a while, but in the end he sees them. He sees the two small heads, he sees the two small shapes so close together, and a couple more minutes go by before he turns and looks at Conner. It´s the first time Conner goes with him to the clinic. It´s not the first sonogram North has done, but it is the first one where the two little heads appear, and the first one Conner is there to see.

“You knew?” Dick ask as he falls back on the bed.

Conner´s smile widens a bit. “Yeah.”

“When? How?”

“I´m not sure, maybe since last month. I didn’t mean to, but when I stretched my hearing out I picked up on this fast heartbeat, and I panicked at first, did some research and found the heartrate was normal for a baby. I´ve been listening in on it ever since, but hadn’t realized they were two different heartbeats until like two weeks ago.”

Dick searches his face. “And you didn’t tell me because you wanted it to be a surprise.”

The smile disappears, and confusion takes its place. “Are you…? Was it wrong? Did it upset…? Wasn’t I supposed to do that?”

Dick keeps quiet for a while, then he laughs, and looks over at Dr. North. “Can I hear them, doc?”

The elderly man´s face shows amusement, then he nods and pushes a button. The room is suddenly filled with a quick and high-pitched sound. At first it seems it is only one fast heartbeat. However, after listening to it for what could be hours, Dick picks up on the difference: a heartbeat is a nanosecond behind the other, both still fast, but not perfectly synchronized.

He feels fingers curl around his hand, and he turns his head to see a worried yet excited Conner. He smiles at him and squeezes his hand back.

“I can hear your heartbeat now as well,” Conner says softly. “Are you all right?”

Dick´s breath catches in his throat, has a bit of trouble breathing. His throat feels tight, and his heart is thumping in his chest. He looks from Conner to the sonogram, then back at Conner, keeps his gaze there.

“All right?” he echoes, then grins. “Conner, we´re having _twins_!”

So maybe that comes out as one of the most gleeful screams of his life. So maybe he gets emotional as he keeps watching the sonogram and hearing the tiny heartbeats. Then again, can anyone blame him? He thinks not, and if they do, he can still move easily enough to kick the words out of anyone´s mouth.

 

* * *

 

 

His routine changes once more after finding out he´s carrying twins, but this time it changes for the better. Up until the fourth month of his pregnancy he´s been behind the screens and has been running mission control from his comfy chair in the Cave. After Bart almost ends with a broken arm and he realizes no one´s been training the youngest and newest team members in physical combat, he decides to take the place Dinah had once occupied. Not everyone on the team can fight. Bart is fast, but despite the years he still isn’t much of a fighter, that applies to Virgil and Garfield as well, and Cassie, Jaime, Karen and the rest – even Tim – could use a regular training schedule now that no one was trying to destroy Atlantis or invade the Earth.

Conner is supportive of his decision, and Dick can see in the way his face lights up that apart from being worried all the time about him, Conner feels guilty.

“You do know I´m happy with this, right?” Dick asks, stepping away from the lockers and cupping one of his mate´s cheeks against his palm.

Conner gives him an anguished look. “Are you happy with having your life turned upside down? Having your life… taken away from you?”

“Nothing has been taken away from me, Conner. I´m still Dick Grayson, I´m still Nightwing.”

“But you´re…”

“I know I´m not the good-looking, sexy and fit guy I used to be, but…”

Conner´s mouth drops, and he looks so very offended. “ _Dick!_ ”

Dick laughs until tears roll down his cheeks and his stomach hurts. He laughs until Conner´s frown vanishes and he only looks mildly annoyed.  “Conner, it was a joke.”

“I am not with you only because you have abs, Dick! I think you´re still as handsome and… and… cool now that you´re pregnant as you were before! You´re still the man I love whether you think you´re fit or not!”

Another laugh threatens to spill from his lips, so he does his best to hold it back and presses their foreheads together instead. “It was a joke, but I really appreciate you saying all that.”

“Dick…”

“Don´t blame yourself for anything, Conner. If I´m pregnant it´s because we had sex, and it´s not like you ever forced me or anything stupid like that. We´re mates, we´re a couple, and from the moment I knew, I was sure I wanted to keep this baby because it´s _ours_. It was my choice. I knew what it would mean, what it would imply.”

“But it hasn’t been easy.”

“It hasn´t, but I don´t really care. Conner, we are having a child… we´re having twins. Putting my superhero life on hold for a few months isn´t easy, but I´ve done it because I want to, because I know it isn’t the end of the world. The babies will be born, and I´ll be able to put the domino back on soon enough.”

Conner lets out an angry sound, his hands ball into fists. Dick presses their lips together, then pulls back and gives him a wink. “I´m fine where I am, Conner. I´m fine, but late. Bart and the others are waiting for me.”

Conner lets out a sigh, but when Dick steps aside and heads into the main part of the Cave, he stays where he is. Dick places a hand on his belly as he walks away. He´s talked to it even more since he found out he´s carrying twins, and for some reason, he knows they listen.

“You two better listen up as well. Don´t go tossing and turning in there because you feel like daddy. Because I´m telling the truth. This was my choice, and I don´t regret anything. I love you little guys so much already, and I would choose to do the same over and over again.” He pats his belly, smiles down at it. “Keep getting strong in there, all right? Keep each other company, keep me company until you´re ready to come out. You´re safe, you´re wanted, and Conner and I will be eagerly awaiting you.”

He doesn’t get an answer. He half expects one. He doesn’t have time to dwell on that given Bart is suddenly in front of him demanding why he doesn’t hurry up. Dick laughs, musses up the red hair and walks faster. Everyone pretty much comes to attention when he steps onto the training area, and he can´t help but feel a surge of pride and relief. It is nice to be assured – silently – that despite his status as an omega, and a pregnant one, the team still treats and respects him as one of their seniors, one of their leaders.

“Okay, everyone, welcome to Basic Training for a Nine-Year-Old 101. I´m Dick, I´ll be your teacher from now on, and let me tell you how this is all going work out. You pair up, we all train, and whoever refuses to train, like Conner first did when Canary came to the Cave, I have escrima sticks close at hand. I may be turning into a beach ball, but I´ve still got my aim, and the electricity on the sticks.” Dick grins, points in the team´s general direction. “Any questions?”

He gets wide-eyed looks from everyone at first and a smirk from Tim, then Virgil´s laugh rings out, soon followed by Bart´s, then Cassie´s, but it is Garfield who speaks, looking both shy and excited. “Well, you´re the most badass and dangerous beach ball in the world, if I´ve ever seen one!” he cries with glee.

Tim snorts.

Dick actually cackles. “That´s the attitude!” he cries, flashing Garfield a double thumbs up.

Tim´s laugh, when he finally lets it out, floats all around the Cave, and Dick ends up holding his laughing and crying brother while Tim keeps muttering, “Beach ball,” under his breath.

 

* * *

 

 

As the weeks go by, Dick finally realizes it isn´t Alfred who insists on having Conner and him over for dinner and sometimes lunch, but Bruce himself. He only realizes it because one afternoon he wanders into the kitchen to make himself a peanut butter, jelly and celery sandwich and asks Alfred if he really doesn’t mind having the wo of them over so frequently. Alfred quickly takes away the bread and knife from him and goes on to make a proper sandwich – he does add the celery and makes no comment about it – before he hands it over and says, “I find it quite enjoyable to have you and Mr. Kent here for dinner. It is nice to see people enjoy the food as much as you do, Master Dick. Also, it is not like I can say no to Master Bruce´s request to invite you over and cook enough for you all.”

Dick stops with his sandwich almost to his mouth and stares at Alfred with eyes wide as saucers. “What?” he asks.

Alfred pours him a glass of orange juice. “Did you not know? Master Bruce is the one who over breakfast says, ‘Alfred, remember to give Dick and Conner a call. I want us to have dinner together tonight’.”

Dick´s mouth drops. Alfred hands him the glass. Dick continues to stare. Alfred gives the faintest of smiles, then he pats Dick´s shoulder. “Off you go, Master Dick. While I am quite fond of the idea of you and Mr. Kent being here for dinner, having you in the kitchen has never been a good idea. Please wait in the living room with Master Damian. Your presence will do him good, he has been huffy all day.”

Dick is too shocked to argue. He takes his sandwich and juice and heads back to the living room. The place is empty when he gets there, but he can hear Damian´s soft sleepy voice and then Bruce´s deep tone. Dick figures Bruce ought to come back soon so he sits down on the couch and eats his sandwich. Bruce comes back about five minutes later, nods at him when he sees him.

“You put him to bed?” Dick asks.

“In _my_ bed rather. He was mumbling something about ‘Fed’ and not liking naps. It is quite obvious he needs them anyway.” Bruce frowns and sit downs next to him. He looks worried.

Dick tears his sandwich in half and holds it out. Bruce takes it, sniffs it, then frowns harder. “What did you put inside this?”

“Try it, I promise it´s good,” Dick assures him.

Bruce doesn´t move.

Dick rolls his eyes then takes back the sandwich. “Fine, your loss. What´s got you worried?”

Bruce frowns so hard Dick worries for the umpteenth time his face will freeze like that. “I am not worried.”

“You look worried. You didn´t leave him with a Tazer under your pillow or Clark´s underwear nearby, did you?”

Bruce´s neck turns a slight shade of pink. “I would never…” he begins, then shuts his mouth, lips pressed thin.

Dick eyes him, reaches for his glass and takes a couple of sips. He thinks about giving Bruce a bit of time so he can speak without any prompting about what is bothering him. Then he chokes on his own laughter. It´s Bruce, if it were up to him, he´d never speak. Still, Dick has a pretty good guess about why he´s worried.

“Newborns aren’t any easier than toddlers,” he begins when he´s stopped choking. He bites into his sandwich again, keeps his gaze on Bruce´s body. His expression may never give anything away, but his body is a whole other story. Kind of. Dick can pick up on things on boy language alone. Half the time anyway.

“I mean, not that I know a lot about them just yet since mine aren’t even born, but I assure you, Damian is difficult not only because Talia tried to turn him into a war machine. It´s the terrible twos as they call it, and a newborn isn’t easier. Damian already goes to the bathroom on his own. With a baby, you change diapers for at least two years, and then you have to _train_ him, and I don´t mean Robin training, Bruce. I mean you have to be gentle and patient and encouraging. Talia´s method worked, but is by no means a sane or appropriate one. You would need to adapt your methods as well.”

Bruce´s lips thin even more. His eyes jump from one spot of the room to another in a clear indication that he is not comfortable with Dick even bringing up the subject.

“Clark told me he had talked to you about it,” he grits out after a while.

“He did.”

“He told me you said he´d be a great father.”

“Don’t you think the same?”

Bruce lets out a strangled sound. He frowns, looks away. Dick knows he has to wait. Talking with Bruce takes a lot of time.

“If anyone deserves to have a child, it´s Clark. If anyone will love that child, it´s him. I know that if there is one person in this whole world than can raise a child with all the love, comfort and comprehension it needs, it´s Clark,” Bruce says finally. “He´s the best father any child could have.”

“Apart from Conner and myself.”

Bruce´s lips twitch. “Of course.”

Dick grins. “So as we both already knew, Clark isn’t the issue here.”

“Naturally.” And Bruce´s tone shows genuine acceptance. “We both know _I´m_ the issue here. Clark trusts me as much as I trust him when it comes to being Superman and Batman. I dare say we trust each other as much out of costume, but I don’t think he trusts me to… to…”

“To do what you must for the child you would conceive,” Dick finishes.

Bruce goes back to pursing his lips. “Yes.”

Dick tilts his head back and nods. “It´s understandable. This isn’t something you can get over and done quickly. It´s a slow process, and a commitment for life.”

“You think I don´t know that?”

“I don´t know, Bruce, Do you?”

“Of course I do.”

Dick knows Bruce believes what he´s saying, but he doesn’t think Bruce really _knows_.

“This isn’t easy,” he says quietly, and looks down at his bulging belly. At five and a half months, he can´t really see his lap anymore when he´s sitting down. He can see part of his thighs, sure, but not his lap. “Bruce, you have to understand this really well. This isn’t easy, this isn’t fast. This is a thing that can´t be solved because there is nothing to solve. You´re one of the most committed men I know, Bruce, and what you have to do if you want to have a child is commit to it.”

Dick licks his lips. “Being pregnant means your life will take a complete and absolute turn, and you´ll have to do what is best for the baby, especially with the type of life we have. Things will change, Bruce, things _have_ to change. The little person who will be growing inside you isn´t like us. They aren’t trained, they don’t know anything about how dangerous this world is, they can´t fight. The baby in your womb will need to be protected from the time of their conception and onwards. If you and Clark decide to have a child, that child will need protection, and you can´t keep on being Batman, not for a year, at the very least.”

Bruce´s eye twitch, his hands convulse where they rest on his thighs, and Dick knows he´s hit a nerve, as anything related to Batman always does with him.

“It will be more than a year. Nine months of pregnancy, at least another six months until the baby can sit on its own, correct?” he says.

Dick thinks about it, then nods. “I guess so, at the very least a year and a half then. Clark and Conner have an advantage here in that they don’t have to carry the baby, but you and I, if you decide to do it? We´ll be benched for what could be seen as an eternity in the superhero community.” He straightens in his seat, gives Bruce a serious look.

“I´m not trying to discourage you, but I want it all to be real clear with you. It´s difficult, it takes patience, it´s a tremendous change you have to adapt to and live with for a long time. You have to understand that, Bruce, but it´s also…”

And that´s when he feels it: the slightest of movements, the slightest of bumps, the slightest shift. And it´s happening inside his belly.

His breath runs out, and his eyes widen. He freezes, tries to be as quiet and still as possible to make sure he didn’t just imagine it.

He hasn’t, he realizes, and feels a thrill of excitement travel up his body. He places a hand slowly on his belly, lets out a gasp when he feels the little kicks again.

Bruce is leaning over him, looking both alert and worried. He hovers, unsure what to do. “Dick? Dick, are you all right? … Dick? Answer me. What´s wrong?”

Wrong? Nothing is wrong. On the contrary…

“Oh man, I wish Conner were here already. It´s the first time. _Their_ first time!”

Bruce looks appalled. “Dick?”

Dick doesn’t have time to answer. As if by some divine intervention, the doorbell rings. There are quick and soft footsteps, the sound of a door opening, then Dick hears Conner´s voice. Said man pops his head into the living room seconds later.

“Sorry I´m late, we had some trouble back at the…”

Dick flashes a grin so big his cheeks actually hurt. “They´re kicking,” he announces, breathless.

Conner is sitting on the floor in front of him in a blur, eyes sparkling like they rarely do. He holds out a hand uncertainly, and Dick takes it, places it on his round stomach, holds the hand there. The kick comes a couple of seconds later, and Conner almost jumps back.

“I felt it,” Conner says, and a slow smile starts spreading across his face. “I felt it. They moved, and I could feel it. They moved.”

Dick laughs at his mate´s excitement, then looks back at a very uncomfortable and surprised Bruce. “Feel them,” he says, and holds out his other hand. Bruce hesitates, looks like he´s about to flee the room. In the end, however, he holds out a hand, and Dick positions it on top of his belly, where he felt the other kick. The seconds tick by, and Bruce is about to pull his hand away, but then one of the twins kicks, and Bruce jumps even more than Conner.

Dick´s laugh is louder, heartier this time. He gives Bruce the brightest of smiles, eyes shinier than Bruce has ever seen them.

“It´s difficult, but it´s also the most wonderful, emotional and rewarding experience of your life. You´ll have a hard time, and you´ll love every moment of it,” Dick breathes, just as the babies kick again.

**Author's Note:**

> For some reason I ended up with a love-hate relationship with this fic in particular after finishing it lol. It was weird, but I still hope you enjoyed it , that Dick didnt end up acting like a girl, that it makes sense and fits decently into the series. Thanks so much for reading and getting to the end :3


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